


Worse Than Walkers: Reanimated

by Atlas_the_Author



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Comedy, Comfort, F/F, F/M, Hurt, Post-Canon, extreme violence, i don't really do lots of tagging, lots of walkers, so I'll just add more later, to both the living and the dead
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-05-02 01:21:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19189033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Atlas_the_Author/pseuds/Atlas_the_Author
Summary: After surviving their encounter with The Delta, The teens at Ericson's Boarding School For Trouble Youth are met with a new threat. Unknown survivors running from monsters, mystery just miles from their doorstep, and the prospect of safety growing ever more fleeting. It's up to Clementine and her found family to defend their home from something Worse Than Walkers





	1. The Caravan

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome, one and all, to the Reanimated version of "Worse Than Walkers". I hope the new direction I take this story in will grow better than its predecessor, and that you all enjoy it just as much, if not more. Without further ado, please enjoy your reading.

It took Violet and AJ about 15 minutes to reach a safe vantage point to spy on the caravan parked outside their safezone. Their spot was heavily covered by untamed branches and thick shrubbery so they were confident in their ability to stay hidden. AJ passed a pair of binoculars to the blonde teenager and she, in turn, began scouting what she could for information. The caravan seemed to be made up of 4 vehicles, a sedan, two SUVs and an RV, and the estimate on people was more or less accurate. Violet had a headcount of 10 people total in the group, no kids their age or younger. They mostly had melee weapons but at least 3 of them had rifles. They definitely seemed dangerous, but there was no way to tell what else they had or how aggressive their group could be. Regardless, they looked like they were gonna be there for a hot minute. They had set up on the road just past the train station where they first encountered Abel.

“What do you think, Vi? Do they look like bad people?” AJ whispered. He tried his hardest to peek through the brush but he knew he’d get nothing that Violet couldn’t see better with binoculars.

“Can’t tell, kiddo.” Violet said without taking her eyes off the caravan. She watched while two members of the group, a woman with long dark hair and a man with a bald head and bushy brown beard, argued about.,. Something. Damn their distance, Violet couldn’t hear anything. The man started stomping his foot and waving his hands around himself, wildly gesturing at the woods around them. Violet silently gestured for AJ to get down and she dropped to her stomach as well. Violet watched as a third person, their appearance hidden by an oversized hoodie and sweatpants, broke up the argument quickly. The other two looked away indignantly but separated from one another and went back to whatever they had previously been working on. The person in the hood picked up their rifle and climbed up to the top of the RV to be lookout

“Let’s get out of here.” Violet said, lowering the binoculars and handing them back to AJ. The boy stuffed them into a backpack and retrieved a shiv in its place. “We should leave before we’re spotted, tell Clementine.”

“Good idea. Let’s go.” AJ nodded and followed Violet back through the woods. Violet slung her bow over her shoulder and stayed low to the ground as she navigated the way back to “Castle Violet".

 

...Yup. she still couldn’t believe Clementine convinced everyone to go with that name.

 

Their trek back home was interrupted by a group of walkers crossing into their path.

“Why don’t you give me some pointers, AJ? You and Clem have that stunning trick right?” Violet smiled and crossed her arms confidently. AJ nodded back to her with an equally confident smile and readied his knife. As the first walker descended upon the young boy he put a swift kick into its rotten knee. The shambling corpse collapsed in a fit of growls but was quickly silenced as AJ slammed his shiv into its brain.

“And _that’s_ how you school a walker, ha ha!” AJ pumped his fist and grinned. His quote from Louis when they had first come to the school did not pass by Violet without notice, however the thought bore some undesirable thoughts so she chose not to speak up. The other two walkers took notice of the pair and groaned out their endless hunger. Violet mimicked AJ’s kick and sent the walker crashing into the dirt. Miraculously, the walker landed on a stubborn stone and it’s head cracked open with a sickening splat. By the time Violet looked over, AJ had dispatched their final foe. They wasted no time in returning home after their encounter, but failed to notice that they were being watched through the scope of a rifle.

“What do you think?” A woman with long dark hair asked. Her companion, clad in an oversized hoodie, lowered their rifle and let go of their held breath.

“They’re just kids and they kill roamers. They’re not with Jacobs.” they said.

“Maybe they’re friendly then.”

“Maybe.”

* * *

 

“Louis, open the gate!” Violet called up to the watchtower. Louis jumped from his position and quickly pulled the gate aside to let the returning survivors in. When Violet and AJ were safely behind the walls he locked up the gate behind them and eagerly joined them in the courtyard. He pulled a few scraps of paper from the inside of his coat and handed them to violet in quick succession.

“Did you find the Caravan? Are they dangerous? Do they have a lot people? Any cute girls into guys with no tongues?” Violet read aloud, flipping through the notes her mute friend handed her. She scoffed in annoyance as she read the last note. “Ok we’ll go down the list. We found them, they’re armed but they don’t look like big threats, there’s probably 10 people, and the only girls there are either way too old or otherwise out of your league.”

Louis frowned at Violet; she wouldn’t let him have any fun. Being the good-natured friend he was though, he just shrugged and handed his last note to Violet. **‘you know you love me.’** it said. Violet chuckled and handed the note back to him.

“Hey Louis, where’s Clem? We gotta tell her about the caravan.” AJ asked, looking around for the brunette leader. Louis looked up in thought for a moment, then nodded his head and pointed towards the graveyard. “Thanks Louis!”

AJ sped off toward the graveyard first while Violet stayed behind to give Louis a proper goodbye. Violet would never call herself someone who was good at the “Personal Touch”, in fact no one would really ever say that. After the incident with The Delta, though, Violet had come to realize just how fleeting everyone’s time was. With a little help from Clementine and AJ she had slowly been coming out of her shell more. This is why, when Violet wrapped Louis in a hug before going to find Clementine, Louis didn’t even flinch. Violet separated and walked over to the graveyard to find Clementine.

Clementine was standing over the grave Minerva with AJ a few paces behind her. The sight was strange to Violet and the blonde found herself rooted to the spot while she watched on. Clementine carefully lowered herself on her crutches to place something onto the grave, which Violet realized was flowers they had grown in the greenhouse the week prior, and started to speak.

“Everything that happened in the past few weeks, I’ve just been blaming you for it. If you didn’t show up on that bridge, didn’t slice my leg, didn’t get Tenn killed, so many things would be better. But I realized the other day that it’s unfair to put it on you entirely. Marlon traded you away, Lily and The Delta Brainwashed you, your parents were the ones to send you to Ericson’s in the first place. Who out of them should I blame the most? There’s so many what ifs at so many points in time and I realize now that it’s useless to point fingers. Maybe you would have been different had you not been taken by The Delta. Maybe we could even be friends…” Clementine paused in her monologue and closed her eyes. “I’m sorry, Minerva.”

“That was beautiful.” Violet said before she could stop herself. Clementine’s eyes widened and she spun on her heel to face the new voice in her presence. Her crutches wobbled beneath her and AJ rushed to her side in order to help her balance herself again. She acknowledged his presence and then noticed Violet watching her; oh god, how much had they seen?

“When did you guys get back?” Clementine asked, busying herself with hiding her embarrassment as much as possible by focusing on her crutches.

“Just got in. We found the caravan and scouted it out for you.” Violet said.

“We killed some walkers on the way too, I killed 2 of them by myself!” AJ said proudly. The young boy puffed out his chest but Clementine’s face was not one of pride but of worry. Clementine shifted her gaze to Violet, a modest amount of frustration now peeking through her eyes.

“Hey, I was ready to step in if it didn’t go well. I wanted him to gain a little independance.” Violet excused. She knew Clementine was going to be mad at her later but it didn’t matter. Clementine didn’t really get to see how much AJ had become his own person in the weeks she was out of commission with her amputated leg. The boy was really turning into a leader himself, and Clementine was going to have to accept that.

“What are you, his mom?” Clementine joked, leaning into her crutches with a smile on her lips.

“Considering the fact that we’re dating, I’m-”

“Back up, Assholes, and put your hands in the air.” Aasim’s voice sounded from the front of the school. Clementine, Violet, and AJ all immediately went on high alert just as Ruby rounded the corner into the graveyard.

“Clem, Violet, Stranger Protocol!” Ruby yelled. “Stranger Protocol” was the name given to their new procedure for dealing with unknown survivors that found their home. Clementine and AJ were to head into the Admin building and provide lookout from one of the windows depending on the location the people were coming from. She couldn’t fight up close anymore due to her stump but during her recovery, Violet, Louis, and AJ had scavenged supplies and weapons from The Delta’s riverboat ruin, and it turned out that Clementine was good with a rifle. While the two of them would provide over watch, Violet and Aasim would be ready to shoot arrows over the wall at attackers. Louis and Willy would work on setting traps like snares or tripwires and Ruby and Omar would coordinate the teams together and be ready to provide assistance.

Violet took off towards the front of the school as per her role in the plan while AJ and Clementine retreated into the school. Violet climbed up onto the watch tower next to Aasim and drew her own bow. She looked down on the survivors they were facing and was dumbstruck.

“Hey there, you’re the little lady who was spying on us, ain’tcha?” A bald man with a bushy brown beard smiled up at Violet and spoke warmly even with his hands in the air. Next to him was the same woman with long dark hair that she had seen at the caravan. She also had her hands up high. It was unnerving to Violet, somehow the caravan survivors had not only noticed her and AJ’s scouting but they had  _ tracked  _ her back to the school.

“You were  _ followed _ ?” Aasim asked angrily. He quickly turned his head to Violet and frowned deeply.

“Shut up.” Violet hissed back. She turned her attention back to the caravan survivors with her bow still drawn. “What the fuck do you want?”

“We’re not looking for trouble. We need help.” The woman admitted. “We’d like to hold a peaceful conversation with your group and to show that we’ve actually come here unarmed.”

“Promise, we’re tellin’ the truth.” The bald man assured.

“A, if they make any suspicious moves, aim for the eyes.” Violet said coldly, not moving her stare off the survivors held at arrow-point. The last piece of their fight plan against other survivors was that they never used full names. Names held significance, and that could be exploited against them as it did when Lily attacked. Aasim nodded his head and Violet began descending the ladder of the watchtower. “L, open the gate.”

Louis looked unsure but did as he was told. The gate opened just slightly so that Violet could slip through. Violet approached the survivors slowly, just waiting for them to attack her or for others to ambush them from the brush.

“Smart lady, no names, death threats, you’ve done this before.” The bald man said. VIolet held back her want to punch him as she quickly frisked him and his companion for any weaponry. True to their word, they appeared completely unarmed.

“How did you make it here unarmed? Walkers are everywhere.” Violet asked, Holding up three fingers to tell Aasim to keep holding fire.

“Walkers, huh? We call ‘em “Roamers”.” The Bald Man replied. “You and your boy made a nice little void for us to sneak through with the ones you killed, we ended up taking a chance and found this place.”

“It’s impressive.” The Long-Haired woman added, taking in the large stone walls and barbed wire. “A veritable castle.”

The Bald Man took a step forward and opened his mouth to speak but stopped short when an arrow flew towards him and struck the ground in front of him. He looked up to Aasim, who was already pulling back a second arrow, and then back to Violet, who was now only holding up two fingers.

“Strike one.” Violet said. “You’re allowed to move when I say it. Next time you’ll get hit, and third strike is a brain shot.” 

“God dammit kid, what kind of psychopaths do you have here?” The Long-Haired woman yelled. 

“The kind who got fucked with before and are not about to be fucked with again, or did you not notice dear Abel?” Violet said, pointing their attention to a tree behind them. The two unknown survivors turned and took notice of the corpse of an older man tied against a tree with a sign reading “Don’t fuck with us!” placed in front of him.

“Holy shit…” The Bald Man whispered. “Alright, listen we’re  _ really _ just here looking for help. Please, we need food and medicine if you have any to spare.” His desperation started to seep into his voice. Violet nearly wavered at it but kept up her stone faced look. She didn’t  _ like _ being the asshole here but she was not about to let her friends get hurt again. Then again, these two still hadn’t made any attempts to hurt her and no extra people had come from the woodworks. Maybe they were telling the truth after all.

“Are there more of you out there? You giving us a Trojan Horse?” Aasim yelled over the wall. His bow quickly swept the treeline before settling again on the survivors.

“I promise, we’re alone, and you know we’re unarmed.” The Long-Haired woman said.

“You two will have an audience with our leader and they’ll figure out what to do with you. If anyone else shows up looking for you or tries to attack us you’ll regret it, understand?” Violet set in one last threat before switching her hand gesture to an open hand with all five fingers spread. Aasim lowered his bow and signaled Louis to open the gate. She slung her bow across her shoulder and pulled her cleaver out from underneath her jacket. Violet led the two caravan survivors past the gate into the courtyard and then turned to Ruby, who was reassuring the others that things were settling down and they could switch to disarming the courtyard. “R, tell C that we’re having guests.”

“Right away, V.” Ruby went off in search of Clementine in the admin building. After a few moments she returned and gave Violet the green light to bring the new survivors in. Violet continued leading the caravan survivors into the Admin building, up the stairs towards the headmaster’s office. She knocked in a pattern on the door and waited for the response. AJ opened the door to the office with a blank expression. Violet gestured to the opening with her cleaver drawn.

“Go in, I’ll be outside.” Violet said and then turned around to guard the doors. The Bald Man and The Long-Haired woman stepped inside and were met by Clementine, sitting in Marlon’s chair and only visible from the waist up to hide her stump leg, and AJ, who had his gun drawn but not raised and was watching the strangers intently.

Clementine cleared her throat and gestured to two chairs set up across from her table. The two caravan survivors took their seats nervously. AJ’s intense stare boring into the back of their heads did not go unnoticed.

“So,” Clementine started, resting her chin over her folded hands and digging her elbows into the table. “Let’s start with introductions.”


	2. Parlay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clementine has a meeting with the Caravan survivors and learns unsettling truths about their reason for being in the area.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These chapters take longer than you'd think to come up with when you have ADHD. Sorry for the delay but I've been making strides in fixing the issue. Please, enjoy the update!

“Go on and introduce yourselves.” Clementine said, hiding the lower half of her face behind her hands, folded on top of one another.

“Wait, you’re the one in charge of this place?” The Long-Haired Woman asked incredulously. AJ spun the chamber on his revolver idly behind her, putting her on edge. “This place is a school, what happened to the adults?”

“Ericson and his cowardly staff ditches us when the walkers started showing up in the area.” Clementine half lied. She and AJ weren’t at Ericson’s at the start of the outbreak, but these strangers didn’t need to know that.

“They left you behind?”

“The Nurse, Miss Martin, stayed behind but she sacrificed herself when walkers broke into the greenhouse. When we finally reclaimed the greenhouse, we buried her just outside.” Clementine lowered her head sadly. She’d dealt with enough people to know how to sell emotion. “After she died, the only adults that came by here have either tried to rob us, kill us, or enslave us like The Delta.”

“Wait you’ve fought The Delta?” The Bald Man asked in shock. He had heard stories of The Delta and their war against The New Frontier back in Virginia, were they starting to expand into West Virginia now too?

“Fought and  _ won _ .” Clementine clarified. “Abel was one of their best soldiers out here and we turned him into a scarecrow. They were using a riverboat to travel around and we sank it to the bottom of the river. The rest of their soldiers got turned into walker food.”

“But you’re just kids.” The Long-Haired Woman said. “The Delta aren't easy marks.”

“These days, kids are dangerous.” Clementine correctly pointed out. She’s had experience in surviving since she was 8 years old and she knew that the most dangerous survivors were the least likely ones.

“Especially when they were born into it.” AJ said from behind the strangers. The Bald Man turned around and greeted him.

“Figured you were a little young to have been around since before. How old are you squirt?” He asked

“Old enough.” AJ said, slightly shaking the revolver in his hand around as a silent gesture of what he meant.

“I’ll make my point clear.” Clementine said, flattening her hands out across the table. “Trying to cross us when we’re giving you the benefit of the doubt here will be the last mistake you ever make. Now let’s start over, introduce yourselves.”

“Alright…” The Bald Man started, “Well my name is Arnold, the lady with me is named May, we’re with a group of twelve just down the road from your base.” The Long-Haired woman, now known as May, turned to Arnold with apparent surprise. Perhaps she wasn’t expecting him to give away their numbers so quickly. Seems Arnold was more comfortable in front of them than he ought to be. “And you would be…”

“You can call me “C” for now. If you end up gaining our trust you’ll learn my real name.” Clementine said. “Now what is it you’ve come here for?”

May rubbed her shoulder gingerly before speaking. “We need medicine and food more than anything. We have injured back at camp and we’re running out of supplies to treat them with.”

“What kind of injuries? We’re not exactly a hospital.” Clementine inquired. Medical supplies were worth their weight in gold more than ever. She wasn’t about to guarantee handing over what little they had to strangers she still didn’t trust.

“My brother took a bullet for me. It messed up his nerves and he gets these awful seizures. We’ve been feeding him meds to keep them at bay since no one really bothered lootin’ ‘em, but we’re fresh out.” Arnold explained. 

“And what can you give us in exchange? We don’t run a charity.” Clementine kept a flat poker face aimed at the two survivors in front of her.

“It’s almost winter, do you have warm clothing? How about fuel?” May talked animatedly with her hands while listing available supplies. The promise of warmer clothes for the winter definitely sounded appealing and if these was fuel to spare they could probably use it for burning walkers they took out around the school.

“We can’t give them fuel, May, we need as much as we can to get the hell outta here.” Arnold scolded. Clementine and AJ shared a look between one another. Things felt very suspicious now

“Why are you so worried about leaving?” Clementine asked skeptically.

“It’s not important-”

“Of course it is!” Clementine yelled slamming a fist into the desk. “If you’re that determined to keep moving, then you’re either going somewhere or running from somewhere. Which is it?” 

Clementine’s stare turned cold, fast and AJ gripped his revolver. There was a sudden, low growl from behind the desk and a fierce looking bulldog emerged from being it. The dog lowered themselves to the ground and snarled at the strangers.

“Hey, Rosie, heel.” Clementine ordered. Rosie held herself back but did not take her stare or aggressive snarl off of Arnold or May. “Sorry for waking you, girl.”

“Didn’t realize you had a dog, too.” May said nervously. The murderous look on the dog across from her made her arm hair stand up. She didn’t like dogs and Rosie wasn’t helping her in the slightest.

“You’ll get real acquainted with her if you don’t tell me what you’re hiding from us.” Clementine threatened. She knew the danger of secrets too well, as well as what happens when scared groups are on the run. There was no way she wasn’t gonna dig the information out of them even if she had to get a bit literal with that phrase. May swallowed harshly and Arnold readjusted his collar without making eye contact with anyone in the room.

“We’re good people, honest.” Arnold assured. “We’ve just been through some awful stuff and we don’t wanna wrap you into it. We’re only here because we need to trade but as soon as we do that we’ll leave y’all alone and you’ll never hafta worry ‘bout us again.”

“Don’t fucking play with me.” Clementine reprimanded. “Who or what are you running from?”

“He calls himself “Father Jacobs”.” May blurted out. “He has a group across the state line and it’s full of fucking lunatics. We tried to barter with him and he took us prisoner for his weird walker cult instead. There  _ were _ 20 of us. Now we have 12.”

“He shot my brother when we escaped. Please just help us and we’ll leave y’all alone.” Arnold pleaded. He looked ready to beg on his knees for this trade deal but the longer he went on the less Clementine was hearing.

What stuck with Clementine was the terrible memories this encounter was forcing to resurface. A group of people, broken people, running from a violent past with a psychopathic leader of a survivor group. These people were mirrors of the people Clementine met when she was 11. Did they have kids? Would there be people like Alvin and Rebecca? Clementine began to lose control over her own breathing as her heartbeat rose. She wasn’t going to do this again. Her friends had barely survived The Delta, for all her boasting to these strangers in her office, and some hadn’t survived at all. She never wanted to ever face down another danger like Carver was and she was damn sure never going to place AJ in that situation after everything else that happened. But if these people were anything like The Cabin survivors then… oh god did Jacobs send people to track them down?

“No.” Clementine shuddered as her fears crept under her skin.

“What?” May asked in disbelief.

“I said  _ no _ !” Clementine shouted. “You and your people need to leave. Today.”

“You can't... You can’t do that!” Arnold yelled back. “Please, we’re dying out there, we need food and water at the very least!”

“You’re gonna drag us into this fight just by being here so if you really don’t want them to find us then you gotta go.” Clementine stood up to make herself more intimidating. She had to lean into the table to keep the con about her leg a secret though so it may have come off wrong. “V!”

Violet burst into the room immediately at the call of her code name. She brandished her meat cleaver high before faltering when she realized neither Arnold nor May were making any threatening moves. AJ had his revolver raised and tightly held and Clementine was leaning into the table hard, Violet was _ incredibly _ confused.

“What’s going on?” Violet asked, still holding her cleaver near her eye level.

“Take Arnold and May past the safe zone, their people are leaving immediately.” Clementine ordered. Violet didn’t immediately act on it, instead trying to read her girlfriend's silent glare for more information. “Take L with you and come right back.”

“Yeah, of course.” Violet said then she gestured to Arnold and May with her cleaver. “Let’s go.”

Arnold and May got up quietly and left the room. Violet took one last questioning look at Clementine, who had changed dramatically to slumping over her desk with her head in her hands. AJ moved in to comfort her and Violet chose to leave it there while she escorted the caravan survivors out of the school. Louis was standing by the gate still, which was fortunate so that Violet wouldn’t have to go looking for him. Violet informed Louis about the situation and the two teens led Arnold and May out to the end of the safe zone.

“You have to do something, we can’t keep running like this.” May begged as they walked. Violet avoided eye contact with either survivor while continuing to lead the group.

“Please, I don’t know what you’ve been through but this is wrong. My brother is going to die without those meds.” Arnold said, he looked over his shoulder to Louis and tried to argue his point. Louis, of course, said nothing because he had no tongue.

“We’re getting close.” Violet said, stopping the group. She turned back towards Arnold and May and hunched her shoulders. “I’m sorry about what happened back there. I don’t know the full details but I promise I’ll figure something out.”

“What does it matter? We’re just gonna leave and hope we find something before too long.” Arnold said, dejectedly.

“No you aren’t.” Violet said, slipping out a bottle of pills from her jacket. She handed the bottle to Arnold. The older man’s eyes widened when he realized what he was looking at.

“Diazepam? Wh- How?” Arnold asked, clutching the bottle to his chest.

“The Walls of that office are super thin and I heard about your brother. We used to have a student who would take it, since he’s gone I figure you’d need it more.” Violet said, smiling softly. “I’m gonna talk to C and figure out if we can’t change her mind about you guys. Gather anything you can use to trade with and wait for me to come back.” 

“Thank you, really.” May said, taking one of Violet’s hands.

“Don’t. I haven’t changed her mind  _ yet _ .” Violet said, taking away her hand. “Come on, L. we need to get back.” Violet began walking back to the school with Louis, after he recovered from the shock of seeing Violet going directly against Clementine’s wishes. Louis walked at Violet’s side and after a moment began waving his hands wildly at Violet and the direction of the caravan.

“Yes, I did just tell them to stick around. I’m gonna go find out what bugged Clementine so much and see if I can change her mind.” Violet explained, not bothering to even look at Louis. Louis stepped in front of Violet and made a few more exaggerated hand motions in response. “One of these days we’re gonna clear out the old library and find Mr. Sutton’s sign language books for you.”

* * *

 

Violet hesitated outside the headmaster’s office door. When she and Louis got back to the school she was informed that Clementine had not yet left the office. AJ was concerned about his surrogate mother and brought the information to Violet immediately. So here the blonde teen was, hand paused in mid knock, dumbfounded for what she even wanted to ask Clementine.

_ ‘Fuck it.’ _ Violet thought, knocking on the door.  _ ‘I guess I’m winging it.’ _

“Go away.” Clementine’s muffled voice said from behind the door.

“It’s me.” Violet said. SIlence settled on the scene long enough that Violet began to question why she even questioned her girlfriend’s judgement. Just as Violet started to lose her will to stand there any longer, the door opened and Clementine hobbled back on her crutches to let Violet through.

“What’s wrong, Vi?” Clementine asked behind a smile so fake Violet could make a joke that it was made in china.

_ ‘Made in china? Really, Vi, you’re spending too much time around Louis. Soon he’s gonna start speaking through you.’  _ Violet laughed in her head. Now this was going to be the hard part. Somehow Violet was going to have to get Clementine to open up about why she flipped out on the caravan survivors. From the look of things, they hadn’t done anything wrong. Maybe they had asked the wrong questions or tried to impose on the school? Either way, Violet was gonna have to come up with a good way to segue into that topic of conversation-

“What got you so angry with Arnold and May like that? Is everything ok?”

Or she could just say it immediately and skip the foreplay. Fucking backstabbing vocal chords, not following the plan she hadn’t come up with.

“Oh.” Clementine said, dropping her forced grin and leaving her arms at her side.

“Just… it looked like you were going off on them and I want to understand why.” Violet explained. She stepped into the office and shut the door behind her. Clementine remained silent while a silent storm brewed in her mind. Violet couldn’t really gleam anything from her girlfriend’s poker face but she knew that when Clementine went totally quiet like this it only meant that she was doing every bit of mental math she could surrounding a problem. The question was what was the problem she was solving to begin with.

“They attempted to hide the fact that they were being followed.” Clementine answered Violet’s original question while settling herself back into the old headmaster’s chair. 

“Followed by who? The Delta? The people they were fighting?” Violet asked, pacing slightly. If The Delta was back they’d have a problem. If it was the people the delta was fighting, though, they’d be in real hot shit. Clementine had mentioned she might have known which group it was back when she was recovering and the look in her eyes radiated both fear and hatred. Whatever happened to Clementine before the school was a rarely broached subject. Violet could count on one hand the things she knew about the young co-leader’s life outside the safety of Ericson’s walls.

“No. They said it was some cult leader or something beyond the state line back in Virginia. They escaped from him and were on the run this whole time. They could have been leading him right to us!” Clementine banged a clenched fist into the desk. There was clearly something going on here that Violet needed to get to the bottom of. She made a promise that she’d try to change Clementine’s mind about the caravan and step one was figuring out the problem.

“But why chase them off like that? Shouldn’t we try to help them if they were attacked?” Violet offered.

“I’m not risking the lives of our people for theirs. They could be lying to us.”

“Clem they came here unarmed and desperate. I think you’re overreacting.” Violet placed a delicate hand on Clementine’s shoulder but Clementine violently pushed it away.

“I’m not overreacting, dammit. I know what happens to people like them and I’m not going through that twice.” Clementine spat. Violet recoiled in shock. She had never seen Clementine so angry before and now she knew she had to get to the bottom of this.

“Clementine I don’t know what happened to you before you came here but you can’t send these people away when they’re that desperate for help. What about Arnold’s brother? What if he dies because you chose to turn a blind eye?” Violet argued. Immediately she regretted her words after seeing the flash of hurt come over Clementine’s face.

“Oh that’s real rich, Violet. What about how you and the other left AJ and I in exile over a stupid mistake?” She said. The words initially make Violet feel guilty but that soon gave way to irritation and anger

“How dare you. You know I tried to let you stay!” Violet countered. SHe had been one of the only people to really fight for Clementine and AJ to stay at Ericson’s after Marlon’s death. Why the hell was Clementine trying to bring that up like she was the bad guy here?

“It didn’t really feel like you did jack shit while I was forced to defend AJ, who had gotten  _ shot _ from a horde of walkers. If James hadn’t shown up we both would have been turned into those walking dead freaks!” Clementine was shouting now. If she could stand Violet had no doubt she would have gotten up in the taller blonde’s face. Violet decided to get that situation going anyway by leaning over the desk and getting _ herself _ in Clementine’s face She hated fighting with Clementine but it didn’t matter, now her blood was starting to boil.

“I did everything I could.”

“You let them hold a vote and they kicked us out. Don’t think I’ll ever forget that!”

“And  _ you _ told us to run away when Louis and I came back for you. We could have saved you then and there!”

“You are  _ not _ going to make this about me.”

“I want you to change your mind so that you don’t make the same mistakes I did!” Violet shouted. Clementine quieted down after that. Violet didn’t even realize she had shouted what she had until her own voice stopped. Blood pulsed in her ears and she knew a headache was gonna come hitting her soon enough.

“Violet. I can’t. I can’t risk you or AJ or anyone.”Clementine said softly. Her voice was barely above a whisper and her eyes were beginning to wet with tears.

“And I can’t live with sentencing more people to die and knowing I could have done something different.” Violet said. She sat down and placed her hands over one of Clementine’s own. “Something about this is bringing up bad memories. I can see it in your eyes, you’re scared. Tell me why.”

“Vi-”

“I want to understand. Please let me.”

Clementine stayed quiet and gripped Violet’s hands hard. After a few shaky breaths she stabilized herself enough to look her girlfriend in the eye. Neither of them remembered the point where they started crying but both their faces had streaks of tears running along their cheeks. The sight almost made Clementine laugh. Violet returned the squeeze through her own hands. A quiet reassurance that no matter what she’d listen to whatever Clementine was about to say.

“Ok.” Clementine said. She took her hands back from Violet and rolled up one of her sleeves to show a jagged, old scar running along her arm. “So it all started with a hungry dog, and a scared, lonely girl.”


	3. Shadows of The Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clementine owes Violet an explanation and delivers just that. The context establishes a new understanding in Violet just the types of horror her girlfriend had witnessed in her time on the road

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the delay everyone. The Long and short of it is that I just easily lose myself in burnout and distractions which makes it very hard to keep up on project work. I don't have a lot of discipline or deadlines but I'm still committed to this story at the end of the day so I will be locking down and focusing on it whenever possible

Clementine and Violet were sat across from one another in The headmaster’s office of the old boarding school. After Clementine’s outburst against Arnold and May, the caravan survivors, Violet had convinced the young co-leader, to share more of her past in an attempt to understand the reason why she was so aggressive and forceful. For the past hour, Clementine recounted her memories when she was 11 years old, though she avoided speaking of Christa and Omid. Those memories weren’t wholly relevant and a little too painful still to mention.

She told Violet as much as she needed besides that though. She told her about Sam, the hungry dog that attacked her over a can of beans and gave her the wound on her arm. How she met the group of Cabin survivors out in the woods after nearly being devoured by walkers. Clementine recalled, with that feverish pride in her eye Violet had noticed whenever Clementine talked about something she accomplished, stitching up her wound and managing to bludgeon a walker to death by herself leading to her life mantra of “Still Not Bitten.”. Violet realized the mantra was useless to her girlfriend now after the loss of her leg, but it was inspiring nonetheless. After getting to the point in her story where she had saved Nick and returned to the cabin, Clementine hesitated.

“After what happened at the shed, Carlos and Rebecca left to go find Nick, Luke and Alvin. That’s when I first met Carver.” Clementine held her arms tightly against herself, even the name of that bastard left her unsettled to this day.

“Who was he?” Violet asked. Clementine had noticed that by this point Violet was nearly on the edge of her seat, so clearly enthralled with Clementine’s life story beyond Ericson’s and, Clementine supposed, with good reason. Violet and the others never knew what the rest of the world was like past the walls; not all of it anyway. Until the delta, they had never encountered someone even close to what Carver was. Clementine internally hoped they never would know a man, or more accurately a monster, like that.

“Carver was the worst asshole I’ve ever met, way more fucked up than Lily was.” Clementine said. “He had tortured those people in the Cabin, Raped AJ’s mom and killed his dad, beat Kenny so hard his eye socket caved in, and threw a man to his death off a roof just because he wanted to help me and Sarah.”

“Jesus…” Violet said, slack jawed. This Carver guy was definitely worse than Lily. She at least hadn’t initially wanted the death and violence that occurred between their groups. “What happened to him?”

“Carver’s group eventually caught up to us, after I reunited with Kenny and a group of survivors hiding in the ski lodge. He took us all prisoner and forced us to work for him like slaves in a Howes’ Hardware store. They were turning the place into a fortress and there was a herd on the way. He kept trying to play mind games with me while I was there. Insisting we were the same kind of person, some kind of “strong rule the weak” crap about surviving in this fucked up world. When the herd finally came down on them, we used the PA system to rile up the walkers and escaped. Carver tried to stop us but we overpowered him. Kenny bashed in his skull with a crowbar. I stayed to watch it happen.” Clementine gave Violet the abridged version of the event in a cold and emotionless voice. It honestly unsettled Violet how empty Clementine sounded when she admitted to watching Carver die. It was as if she truly felt nothing, not even horrified, at such a traumatic event. What else did this girl have to witness in her life already?

“That sounds beyond terrible. I’m sorry.” Violet said, stunned for anything else to really say in this situation.

“Don’t be. He got what he deserved.” Clementine said, coldly. Violet said nothing in response as she processed the information that Clementine had given her, and the way she delivered it.

“Thank you, Clementine, for telling me about this.” Violet finally said. Clementine rubbed at her dog bite scar, clearly still uncomfortable in reliving her trauma. Now came the hard part for Violet though, she still wanted to help the caravan.

“Now that you know, does that make my stance on these strangers clearer?” Clementine asked. She grabbed her crutches and began to stand up. “We can’t afford to risk ourselves when we’re still recovering from The Delta attack. Louis is mute, Omar’s got a limp, I’m essentially useless outside of my role as a leader and don’t say that’s not true because we both know it is. On top of that, none of you are trained to use any of the weapons we stole from The Delta and we don’t have a lot of ammo.”

“I understand, and you’re right, there’s a lot at stake and we shouldn’t risk what little we have like that.” Violet said. It was important that she pad the conversation so that the impact of her words would be softer for Clementine to bear. Violet had to be incredibly careful in how she said these next words. “But I promised Arnold and May that I’d help you reconsider so I really think it’d be better if we took the risk and kept them.”

_ ‘Oh for two, Violet, you’re really a master of subtlety, tact, and the English language.’  _ Violet thought to herself as her word vomit spewed. Clementine’s eyes widened in shock and her shoulders stiffened. Violet thought she would start sweating with how tense and conflicted Clementine had become. The scene became increasingly awkward and uncomfortable for Violet as Clementine visibly processed what she blurted out.

Clementine parted her lips slightly, closed them, then opened them again before saying “Excuse me?”

“I think they can be useful to us, we need the manpower to fix up the school.”

“And what will they fix it with? Do they even have construction material?” Clementine asked incredulously, “They’ll only get us into more trouble that we can’t afford!”

“Or we could offer them a deal.” Violet said, crossing her arms over her chest, “They scavenge supplies for us, we keep them alive long enough to do the job, then they leave. I think at least that can be better than chasing them away.”

“What even makes you think we need their help? The only problem with the school right now is the big gate we don’t even use.” Clementine argued.

“Do you even realize how much of Ericson’s is barricaded or infested?” Violet said with a raise of her eyebrows. Clementine was acting like the only things in the school were half of a dorm, the admin building, and the greenhouse.

“I’ve seen the maps, there isn’t a lot.”

“You’ve seen  _ Marlon’s maps _ .” Violet said, laying one hand against the old desk. “The actual area the school covers is way bigger. Let me show you.”

Violet walked around the headmaster’s desk and scanned the bookshelf. Clementine got up and leaned into her crutches while Violet rummaged around. With a successful effort from Violet, she pulled an old tube off one of the shelves and unraveled a large blueprint across the desk. It was a massive building plan detailing multiple areas around Ericson’s Boarding School. Clementine looked over the notes, spotting the admin building, student dormitory, and greenhouse easily but what she was surprised to see was the scope of the rest of the plans. There was a large stone wall surrounding the entire area of the school, larger than what Clementine had seen during her time, and within those walls were a library, cafeteria, a gym, a second dorm, and a large building for general education. Clementine didn’t realize the school was so massive.

“This place is gigantic…” Clementine remarked, unable to pry herself away from the map.

“Not all of it was finished by the time the dead started walking, the wall definitely wasn’t.” Violet said, a tinge of sadness in her voice. For a moment, Clementine tried to deduce what the older blonde was getting at and then the realization hit her. She remembered what was revealed during their pre-rescue party. There were 42 kids when the school first opened, of course the school would have to be large enough to accommodate them. “Walkers poured in through a hole in the back wall, we lost a few kids in the panic and had to abandon the gym. After that it was the classrooms, and then the library and lunch room; there’s probably still some canned stuff in there that could be usable.”

“And the boy’s dorm?” Clementine asked.

“We would sleep in there most nights, there was enough to barricade it and survive. Then Sylvia, one of the oldest girls here at the time, hung herself and turned. Once the despair from that crept in we just tossed a bunch of furniture around the path between the dorms and sealed up the other end of the girls dorms. You saw the barricade in there right?” Violet sat on the desk and looked back towards the balcony in the headmaster’s office. The overlook of the courtyard gave her a nice view of the sun on the horizon. It would be dark soon.

“So then all you had left were the greenhouse, half a dorm, and the admin building,”

“Exactly. Then Miss Martin died, we lost the greenhouse. I never thought we’d be able to use it again but you helped us get that back. Now, after the Delta I really believe we can start taking back the rest of the school.” Violet stood back up and faced Clementine, a fire in her eyes was beginning to burn. “We can’t do it by ourselves, we need these people to help.”

Clementine stayed silent, looking over the blueprints for the school and thinking hard on the choices that would have to be made. Violet had a point, Clementine understood that. More people meant more hands to do physical labor around the school. The caravan survivors would definitely agree to the trade off for a few days of shelter but that voice in the bag of her mind still nagged her.

_ ‘It won’t be enough.’  _ It whispered in Clementine’s head.  _ ‘You’ll only end up with more pain and blood on your hands. Your friends will get hurt, AJ could die. Carver proved that some sick bastards rule these lawless wastes now. Are you seriously going to put your home in danger again just for a moment of safety?’ _

The voice continued to mock and prod, echoing and repeating like a sick and twisted record. There was too much at risk, not enough reward, could the caravan even be trusted? What if-

“Clem, can you hear me?” Violet’s voice carried itself over the calling on Clementine’s fears. It was a break in the storm that brewed within her and instantly soothed the brunette’s beats per minute back down to normal.

“Sorry uh… yeah, sorry, what did you say?” Clementine asked.   
  
“I didn’t. I saw you spacing out again.” Violet said, leaning her weight onto one leg and crossing her arms over her chest. “I’d say to think about what to do with the caravan but it’s almost dark and whatever the choice is, I’d like to tell them about it by tonight.”

Violet walked over to the balcony attached to the headmaster’s office and watched the setting sun. She heard the light shuffling and tapping of Clementine’s crutches making their way towards her. Soon enough the one legged survivor had joined the troubled leader in observing the fading light. A moment of silence passed between them before Clementine let out a long sigh.

“It goes against every gut instinct in me to say this, but I want to trust your judgement.” Clementine said, not making eye contact with Violet, “If you think letting these people close can help, then you can go tell them that and deal with the outcome. I’m putting you in charge of this.”

“Thank you.” Violet turned and hugged her girlfriend close. She reveled in the warm feeling of their bodies in such close contact a little longer than most would consider necessary before pulling back slightly and smiling. “I promise, you won’t regret this.”

“Take Willy and Ruby with you to meet them, Willy’s aim is improving but he needs field experience with melee weapons. Give him one of the bone shanks.” Clementine ordered, returning to her seat in the headmaster’s chair. “Ruby needs experience too but she’ll be more useful at assessing any of the injured or sick in the caravan. They said one suffered seizures?”

“Arnold’s brother, yeah.” Violet said, confirming the intel they had.

“Then she’ll definitely be needed. Get going, I want everyone home before dark.”

“On my way now!” Violet mock saluted with a goofy expression on her face. The routine caused Clementine to burst into giggles while her girlfriend marched off to gather the troops. She stopped at the door and turned around. “Should I tell them our names?”

Clementine thought on that for a while. “You can tell them yours but I’ll introduce myself properly.” Without another word Violet continued on her way. As the blonde teen left, the door to the headmaster’s office didn’t get to fully shut before it was pushed open again and a messy mop of black curls poked in. AJ looked around the room quickly, seeing Clementine still in her chair and walked up to her with a slight bounce in his step. The boy hopped up into one of the chairs and smiled up at his Foster mom.

“What’s got you so excited, goofball?” Clementine asked, tilting her head and smiling back at AJ.

“You changed your mind about the care-van!” AJ said, mispronouncing “Caravan” in a manner both fitting and adorable for someone his age.

“It’s a  _ caravan _ .” Clementine corrected. “And I didn’t change my mind, I let someone else make the choice.” Clementien folded her arms over her chest and stared at the door. AJ shook his head with a skeptical expression.

“Yeah but you told Violet to take care of everything, which means you trust her. That means you want her to do this!” It was sound reasoning from a 6 year old, honestly. Clementine found it hard to argue AJ’s point. Mostly because he was acting very cute trying to sound so matter-of-fact but also because he was right. Clementine did trust Violet and that meant her attitude had shifted. Suddenly, Clementine worried she might be getting a little too soft in the school’s protection. AJ appeared at her side and hugged her, snapping her attention away from potentially spiraling into darker thoughts again.

“Easy bud, you’re getting stronger.” Clementine joked, rubbing her side in mock hurt.

“All the easier to kill monsters with!” AJ laughed and ran to the doors of the headmaster’s office. “I’m gonna go hang out with Louis, he’s teaching me card tricks.”

“Go on, then.” Clementine said, “I love you, kiddo.” She added, softly.

“Love you back, Clem.” AJ responded and then he was gone. Once the door had clicked shut, Clementine returned her attention to the building maps, still left on the desk in front of her. Ideas of how to start retaking the fallen parts of Castle Violet started to blossom in her mind, along with the possibility of additional defenses, should the caravan provide them with the necessary muscle.

 

She would probably be at this for a while...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I wanna focus on WTW:R more, I'll make it official that Save Me Some Sugar is just gonna be on Hiatus until I'm satisfied with this story. I can't keep giving myself multiple works at once when I can barely run with one.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, please let me know what you think in the forms of comments and kudos and subscribe for more (irregular) updates

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for reading. Please leave any kudos, comments, or bookmarks you like and subscribe to the story to be notified about future updates!


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